Redemption
by SapphireElric
Summary: Reno left Rufus after a simple Misunderstanding. Now, Rufus is looking for the redhead to put things right. Will he be able to? Or will he fail? Sequel to Misunderstandings. RufusXReno pairing. Yaoi. Don't like, don't read.
1. Time

**_Author's Note: Hello and welcome to the sequel of "Misunderstandings". I would recommend reading that before reading this as it'll be easier to understand. This continues from the point that Misunderstandings left off and hopefully, I'll get at least one more chapter up today, maybe even two._**

**_Disclaimer: Don't own_**

The news about Reno's departure had slowly spread around ShinRa and as slowly as the news spread, the people Rufus cared about turned away from him. Not one of the Turks would take an order from him now, and Zack, the raven-haired first class SOLDIER, had even turned his back on Rufus.

Even though Rufus knew he would never see Reno again, he couldn't help himself and every spare moment he had was spent looking for the loudmouth redhead. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. Days turned to months. Months turned to years.

It had been 4 years since that damned day, and Rufus was once again wandering the streets. He had no foolish expectations of being able to find his redhead; it was more a habit now, he had no hope left. He kept telling himself that he would find Reno someday and no matter how much it hurt, he just had to know if he was safe. Rufus knew that Reno would be in a relationship with someone else by now, and he wasn't going to get in the way of that. All the blonde wanted was one chance to explain himself, to earn the redhead's friendship back... To be allowed back into the redhead's life one more time.


	2. Safe

**_Author's Note: The next chapter is here, and this is where the story actually starts moving. I'll probably get the next chapter up tonight too. Apologies for the last chapter only setting the scene, but it will get more interesting from now on!_**

**_Disclaimer: Why am I still doing these? I think everyone knows I don't own this._**

It was a night like any other. Rufus was wandering the streets once more, looking for Reno, but not expecting to find him. From behind him, two monsters began charging towards a house. The kids outside who had been playing in the garden screamed and a redheaded man leapt out of the house, brandishing his EMR at the monsters. The man expertly fought them off and Rufus managed to catch a glimpse of a red tattoo under one of the man's eyes as he turned away. The blonde's breath caught in his throat as he simply watched on. The redhead had turned to the crying kids.

"Hey, ya alright?" he asked. The familiar voice rang in the blonde's ears, soothing some of the longing that he'd been suffering. The kids nodded in response to the redhead's question.

"Thank you Uncle Red" they chorused in unison.

"Now get inside before anymore turn up. It's getting dark ya brats" 'Uncle Red' ordered.

"Reno..." Rufus said sadly; glad to see the redhead unharmed and safe. The redhead didn't turn around, and Rufus wouldn't have been surprised if he had been ignored on purpose. One of the kids tugged on 'Uncle Red's' trouser leg.

"Axel, that man's staring at you." She whined, worried.

"Just ignore him, he's probably thinking how pretty ya are Namine!" 'Axel' replied with forced cheerfulness. The girl called Namine smiled and dragged the redhead inside the house.

Rufus allowed a rueful smile to grace his features and he decided to stick around to protect this family from anymore monsters. For a while, the blonde found it easy, but he had too many openings in his defence and soon enough, he was completely surrounded. Seeing the impossibility of his situation, Rufus just gave up, having been granted his wish to see his redhead, or at least what he thought was his redhead, one last time.

"Axel! There's a man getting beaten up outside by monsters!" one of the kids cried from inside the house.

The blonde saw a flash of red go past him, and heard the roar of a monster being defeated before his world went black and he dully acknowledged the feeling of hitting the ground before he became completely numb to the world.


	3. Lies

**_Author's Note: As promised, the next chappie. But I'm tired now and I think 4 chapters in one day makes up for no chapters yesterday, right? lol. Enjoy and expect more updates in the next few days. If only I could update my other stories this quick..._**

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own._**

**_Warnings: Strong language_**

Blue eyes slowly opened and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. Was it all a dream? The pain he felt instantly killed that thought, he may be blonde, but he had enough sense to know that people can't feel pain in dreams. It was then that he noticed some of the kids from earlier in the evening staring at him. A boy with uncontrollable brown hair stepped forward, a goofy grin on his face.

"Hi Mr!" he chirped. A similar boy, but with blonde hair instead of brown stepped forward and stood next to the first.

"Axel went off to get some shopping" he stated like he couldn't care less.

"And he said you need to leave as soon as you're up" A taller silverette piped up. Rufus simply nodded and sat up properly, ignoring the searing pain wracking his body.

"Tell him thanks for helping me" Rufus stated, keeping his emotions in check.

"You're in pain!" The blonde girl from earlier, Namine, squeaked.

"I'm fine, it's a few bruises, that's all" Rufus smiled reassuringly at the girl, who couldn't be older than five. She didn't seem convinced.

"Axel won't kick you out if you're in pain!" She stubbornly protested.

"I wouldn't want to trouble him anymore than I already have." He replied, getting up and wincing at the shooting pain that sliced through his leg.

"Just sit back down ya damn idiot." The redhead's familiar voice floated through the open doorway. The kids looked scandalised and chastised him for using a "bad word" as they put it. "And don't repeat it. Now, go eat your dinner, it's on the table." The redhead continued and the kids scurried out, leaving the two adults alone.

"You said I had to leave when I woke up, I'm only trying to do what you asked me to" The tall blonde sighed and went to take a step towards the door.

"Lie down ya fucking idiot. You're in too much pain ta leave." The redhead replied, having already shut the door to make sure the kids couldn't hear the swear. Rufus blinked in surprise, but he did as ordered and laid back down in the bed. "Ya Rufus Shinra, right?" The redhead questioned, pretending not to know Rufus, but tending to his wounds anyway.

"Reno, don't play dumb. Your tattoos, eyes and voice give you away." The blonde stated.

"Dunno who ya talking about. Name's Axel, got it memorized?" The redhead continued to try and act dumb.

"No, I'd recognise you anywhere" Rufus stared into the redhead's impossibly green eyes and saw the lies he was being fed.

"I really don't know this Reno guy-" Rufus cut him off by pushing the redhead's sleeve up and saw the birthmark that he knew nobody else had.

"Reno is the only person I've ever met to have a star birthmark halfway up his left forearm" The redhead looked away, pissed off that he'd been found.

"What the fuck do ya want Shinra?"


	4. Children

**_Author's Note: Okay, next chappie is done! They may come slightly slower because my Microsoft Office Word has decided to die, and I'm currently using WordPad to write them in. Please excuse any spelling mistakes._**

**_Disclaimer: Don't own._**

"I want to have a chance to explain"

"Why should I let ya!? I knew I shoulda dumped ya at the hospital!" Reno shouted

"Because that guy was flirting with me, but I wasn't going to go off with him. I fired him" Rufus attempted to explain.

"Whatever." Reno chucked the first aid kit to the injured blonde "Sort yaself out. I want ya outta here by morning"

"Who's kids are they?" Rufus asked uncertainly "They're all orphans, but Sora and Roxas are twins, as are Namine and Kairi"

Rufus simply nodded and Reno left the room. The blonde started tending to the wounds he had and listened to the muffled chatter between Reno and the children. Before long, the door opened and a boy with a blonde mulhawk poked his head around.

"Mr Shinra?" He asked uncertainly.

"Yeah"

The blonde boy came into the room more, dragging another, shorter, lilac-haired boy behind him.

"C-Could you persuade Axel to let you stay? He gets really lonely as he's the only grown up" The boy asked hopefully

"I don't know, he doesn't seem to want to know me" Rufus replied sadly

"He told us about when he used to work for your company and how he was friendly with his boss, but he couldn't stay. I think he'd like it if you stayed, at least a little while" The blonde boy explained.

"That was a long time ago"

"Still"

"I'll try to get him to listen to me, but if not, then I'll have to leave... I've been looking for him ever since he left..." Rufus continued, taking on a defeated tone. The blonde boy would've said more, but there was a shout from down the hall

"DEMYX, ZEXION! DINNER NOW!" Reno hollered and the two young boys ran out, leaving Rufus on his own once more to mull over his thoughts.


	5. Food

**_Author's Note: Yay! New chapter. I reckon this'll be finished in around 3-4 chapters so, I'm going to try and get it finished today, or I will finish it tomorrow. Please excuse any typing errors as currently Microsoft Word doesn't like me, so I'm having to use WordPad to type these up in._**

**_Disclaimer: Don't own._**

A little later, Reno walked into Rufus' room, carrying a tray of food. Rufus looked up in surprise.

"You didn't have to do anything for me..." The blonde looked away.

"Whatever." was the only response from the redhead before the click of the door signalled he'd left once more. From where Reno and the kids were eating, Rufus could hear snippets of their conversation.

"Axel, where's your food?" one of the children asked.

"I ain't hungry" came the redhead's unconcerned reply. As all of the children began to chastise Reno, the blonde sat in stunned silence. The man who he thought hated him, the one who had run from him 4 years earlier, had given up his food so that Rufus could eat... The blonde couldn't stand it any longer and stood up, taking the food with him.

"Stop being an idiot and eat. I ate before I tried to take on those monsters" Rufus said, placing the plate of food on the dining table and going to walk back to his room before being stopped by Reno and roughly pushed into the chair. Rufus winced as the amount of force used aggravated some of his injuries.

"Eat it now. You are recovering and ya've been out for 4 hours. Now eat before I forcefeed ya." Reno growled, storming into the kitchen.

"Are we getting pudding today, Axel?" The blonde, mulhawked boy from earlier asked.

"If ya finish it all" Reno's voice had a softened tone to it that Rufus hadn't heard for years. It made the blonde's heart skip a beat, and he got lost in his own world of memories, fighting off the tears that the memories threatened.


	6. Talk

**_Author's Note: This chapter hasn't got much of Rufus in it, I'm sorry, but it will do in the next chapter. ^.^ I enjoyed writing this chapter as it's more innocent than most of the ones I've written so far, lol. Enjoy._**

**_Disclaimer: Still don't own_**

Later, Rufus was attempting to get the mulhawked boy, Demyx, and the lilac-haired boy, Zexion, into bed. He was failing miserably at his attempt because the two boys kept firing questions at him.

"Shinra, get in ya own bed! You two need to settle down" Reno's voice echoed as he strolled down the corridor towards them. The children started to protest, but Reno hushed them.

"I was trying to help you... Unsuccessfully, admittedly" Rufus explained.

"I don't need ya help, now scat!" The redhead ordered. The blonde left as quickly as he could, which wasn't that fast considering his injuries. Reno tucked Zexion into bed, and the lilac-haired boy was out like a light.

"Axel?" Demyx asked

"Yeah?"

"Why're you so mean to Mr Shinra?"

"What do ya mean-" Reno started, but was cut off by Demyx

"When you pushed him into the chair earlier, you hurt him and he was only trying to help earlier but you told him to go" The blonde explained.

"I know him from before, and we split under bad circumstances. I still.... I still hate him..." Reno sighed.

"If you hated him you wouldn't be trying to help him. At least listen to the reasons for his actions before you judge him" Demyx attempted to reason with the redhead. Reno stayed silent, and Demyx took that as an invitation to continue. "He said earlier that he's been searching for you ever since you left. He must really love you if he hasn't stopped looking for you"

"He could never love me. We're too different. He's the CEO of a company, I was one of his employees. It shoulda stayed that way" Reno sighed in annoyance.

"If he didn't love you, he wouldn't have continued to look for you!" Demyx protested

"Probably got dumped by everyone else he found" Reno tried to shrug it off, but the blonde 5-year-old could see the sadness hidden behind it all.

"He said he'd been looking for you all the time, if he'd been in relationships, he wouldn't have been looking for you for so long" Demyx continued to try and change Reno's perception of Rufus.

"Dem, I don't trust him. Not anymore" Reno sighed.

"Then give him a chance to earn your trust" Reno stayed silent, lost in thought about the suggestion. "Please?" Demyx begged, using his infamous puppy-dog eyes.

"Fine. Seeing as it's you askin'" Reno sighed. Demyx smiled and glomped the redhead, who chuckled and hugged him.

"Thank you" Demyx said, snuggled into Reno's arms.

"What ya thanking me for?" The redhead asked in confusion.

"For giving Mr Shinra another chance" The blonde replied.

"Well, if I end up hurt again, I'm blamin ya Dem"

"Okay!" Demyx chirped, smiling, making the redhead laugh.


	7. Forgiven

**_Author's Note: I feel so sad that this is now drawing to a close. There will be one more chapter after this, which is going to be an Epilogue. I'll get working on that now and it should be up later today. I have an idea for another fiction to work on, but that one might die before it gets started, lol._**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own this, unfortunately._**

A few minutes later, Reno opened the door to Rufus' room to check on him. He was surprised to see said blonde sitting next to the window.

"Oh, you're still up." Reno said, hiding his surprise. Rufus looked over at him and smiled a little.

"Yeah, making the most of the time you've allowed me to stay here for" the blonde's smile turned a little sadder than before.

"Ya can stay til ya healed, got it?" The redhead sighed. Rufus' head snapped up to look at Reno in surprise.

"You sure? I wouldn't want to impose"

"Yeah, just don't get in the way"

"I'll do my best not to" Rufus agreed before getting up and getting into the bed.

"Scoot over" The blonde heard the redhead say, and he obediently made room for Reno to get in beside him. The redhead got in, and at first, had his back to Rufus, but after a few minutes he turned over and snuggled up to Rufus. The blonde blinked in surprise, but wrapped his arms around the sleeping redhead.

"I love you Reno" Rufus whispered, and he smiled when he heard the redhead mutter his name in his sleep. He tightened his grip around Reno and whispered "I'm here, Reno."

The next morning, the sleep dishevelled redhead tried to get up, only to feel arms around him. He smiled a little as he looked at the sleeping blonde hugging him and attempted to prise him off. Rufus only clung tighter to Reno.

"Reno..." the blonde muttered in his sleep and the redhead smiled gently, watching his blonde, then realising that Rufus was crying in his sleep. Reno gently kissed the blonde's forehead in an attempt to wake him as the redhead stroked the blonde's tears away.

"Rufus. Wake up Blondie" Reno cooed gently, making Rufus stir from his slumber. Once the blonde was awake, he could feel the tears on his cheeks and he hurriedly wiped them away.

"Sorry..."

"What were ya dreaming?" The redhead asked curiously.

"The same thing for the past four years..." Rufus sighed.

"Huh?"

"Never mind..."

"No, tell me"

"You left and I couldn't find you." Reno tilted his head in confusion and Rufus continued "When I did find you in the dream, you were close to dying. It's been the same dream for the past 4 years..." he sighed.

"But why-" Reno started, before being cut off by the blonde.

"Because I never stopped loving you, and when you left without even letting me explain, I thought I'd never be able to find you"

"I didn't wanna be found" the redhead stated bluntly.

"Exactly. That's why I thought I would never find you"

"You have a chance, explain yourself" The redhead patted the blonde's hair.

"The guy was hitting on me, I was very clearly telling him no with my body language and when you came in, I was just about to fire him and tell him to get the hell out of my office." Rufus explained, needing Reno to at least hear the explanation. The redhead stayed silent for a few awkward moments.

"If you're lying, I'll kill ya" He eventually said.

"I have no reason to lie. The guy in question was fired when I returned to work once I had composed myself to be in any kind of authority position and not kill anyone who came in"

"... one chance. Ya blow it, I'm never coming back." Reno conceeded. The blonde smiled and threw his arms around the redhead, hugging him. Reno smiled a little and hugged back.


	8. Epilogue

**_Author's Note: Okay, so here it is. The final chapter in the Misunderstandings/Redemption storyline. I'm sad to be ending it, but I'm also very happy with how it's turned out. Thank you to all of the reviews and positive feedback you've been giving me and also thanks to ElegantCandyCat my best friend and beta reader. She came up with the initial idea for Misunderstandings and I felt like writing it. I hope I've done it justice. Again, thank you to everyone who's reviewed and taken the time to read this. So, until next time, ja ne!_**

**_Disclaimer: I still don't own this_**

A few months later, Reno was ushering the kids to go into the school building and leave him and Rufus alone. They continued to protest until Reno threatened to not let them have pudding for a month. Once that threat was made, each of the children gave Reno a kiss on the cheek, then gave Rufus a kiss on the cheek and ran into the school building.

"So, what would you like to do, today?" Rufus asked, wrapping his arms around Reno in a comforting embrace.

"Don't care, yo" Reno mumbled, snuggling into the blonde's arms. Rufus smiled and led Reno up to the top of a hill which overlooked the whole town. The redhead looked at the blonde in confusion. "Why'd ya bring me here, yo?"

Rufus didn't answer to start with, he just moved away from the redhead and took a deep breath.

"Reno... Meeting you was the best thing to happen to me... I've never been happier than when I've been with you. I know we've had some hard times, but I believe that's enabled our relationship to become stronger... I have never stopped loving you since I laid eyes on you." Rufus paused long enough to go down on one knee and take Reno's hand in his. The blonde looked up and met the redhead's impossibly green and stunned eyes. "Would you do me the greatest honour of my life and marry me?"

Reno stood in a stunned silence for what seemed like forever.

"You're not joking, are ya?" He asked uncertainly.

"If I was joking, I wouldn't have made that long speech to start with" Rufus stated. Reno smiled more than he'd ever smiled before and hugged the blonde tightly.

"Yes, I will marry you, yo" The redhead said happily. The blonde smiled back and kissed his redhead, slipping a simple gold ring onto Reno's left ring finger.

The redhead broke the kiss and admired the ring on his finger.

"I love you, Mr Shinra"

"I love you too, Mr Shinra"


End file.
